Amtrak ridership down nearly 9% in February

Amtrak reports that it carried 1,849,000 passengers in February, down nearly 8.87% from the 2,029,000 carried in February 2008. On-time performance improved to 82.3% this year from 72.1% in February 2008.

Ticket revenue was down 10.7% to $106,387,000 compared to February of last year.

In the first five months of the current fiscal year, which began last Oct. 1, Amtrak carried 10,878,000 riders, down nearly 2% from the corresponding period in the prior fiscal year. On-time performance improved to 77.4% from 72.6%.

Ticket revenue for the fiscal year so far was $657,281,000, 2.36% below revenue for the prior-year period.